WK22: Kawasaki ZX6R Ninja

Some time ago a friend of the Kings came across this bike and decided to buy it. An ugly, outdated 600cc Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja… He drove it for a couple of months and had some fun with it. Then his sister decided to get married to a Portuguese guy named Henrique. With the wedding coming up, our friend decided to make this bike a wedding gift for his brother in law (Henrique)… Of course along with a business card of Wrench Kings!

Of course the Kawa was still ugly and Henrique decided to give Wrench Kings a shot on the bike.

A Kawasaki ZX-6R is a bike with an aluminum delta-box frame and an aluminum sub-frame. That provided some challenges! This is Wrench Kings’ first bike with an aluminum frame. Luckily we love challenges and we went to get 5 meters of thick-walled aluminum pipe to build our new sub-frame. The original sub-frame is as square as it is ugly and our aim was to create a bike that looked like an original motorcycle whilst everything has been changed. Welding proved to be a bit challenging, as it was an old aluminum alloy delta-box frame with a new aluminum alloy sub-frame. This required some careful adjustments of the welding equipment, but the result is worth the effort!

It’s a powerful bike and therefore we choose to use tires with a lot of grip; Supermotard rain tires (the Heidenau K73). These tires, together with the wide Renthal handle bars and the sporty seating, make the handling of this bike completely different. Instead of a race bike for highway use, it is a bike for city use and winding roads now.

The aluminum fenders add to the looks and allow for usage in Dutch weather: rain.. The seat is made by Toni’s Custom Works and the stitching in the seat matches the profile of the tires.

The speedometer is a Daytona Velona digital speedo; a cool and clean speedo with enough information for any biker (odo and speed).

The paintjob of the fuel tank is done in-house and because it is a bulky fuel tank with a wide frame below it, the black striping is made so that it looks like the box-frame continues through the fuel tank.

The original colors we had in mind for this fuel tank were vintage red, white and blue. But then Henrique walked in, wearing a green jacket and a green jumper and his only comment on our color choice was ‘And what about green?’. So green it is!